Guys I just got the same cognac today and yes it is damn good. I taste a lot of my latest raisin wine recipe so it is making me think of new ideas. I encourage everyone to buy it cost me 26 ish bucks so not bad
Mmmm this sounds like it will be amazing when finished. For my suggestion for the name of the little mascot....Charles, because nothing is funnier than just a regular human name for something that isn't human. And for anyone who may find it useful or just interesting, I had a brew going that I had thought was stuck, while trying to figure out what I wanted to try in order to unstick it...I forgot about it, about 4 months later I remembered about it (a few days ago) so I took a reading just for giggles and it had eaten through about 48 points of gravity to where I'm pretty sure it is now properly done. The lesson I've learned "if I think its stuck, leave it longer. It might surprise me"
This was a fun one. It reminds me of my Ravens blood. Knudsen black cherry, hibiscus and rose heads. I made that one and gave it out for Christmas presents. Everyone loved it so much I have another 3gal batch going right now.
@@alexdevletter1087 9lbs honey, 6oz hibiscus, 3 rose heads or 2oz of hip then I oak in secondary for at least 2weeks with a med toast. Ec1118 for the yeast and nutrients and enzymes per manufacturer recommendation. That is a 3gal batch.
I think this might be my next thing to do! And the way I deal with foam, I have a little metal straw, that I sanitise, and then I gently stir at the top of the must, mostly within the foam, and it helps to break the foam apart rather nicely. Zero need to add stuff.
I made a really similar Pyment this fall (but did not plan to fortify it) It was a 1100 pyment that ended up at 1030, too sweet for my palet, I added a strong hibiscus infusion to acidify/dilute it a bit and for this same fruity floral goodness It ended up really great. Cheers !
My plastic gallon fermenter has a screw cap option (I'm sure most do; I'm sorta new to this!), and if I get foamed up badly, I tighten it up and lay it on its side. More surface area = thinner layer of foam, and I get a good time difference in it dying down.
Foam buster: vacuum pump for degassing - you create a quick vacuum in the container before it starts sucking up into the tube, then pop the top off and that rush of air back into the container pops about every bubble in there.
@@zachburton4190 I froze 3 gallon sized ziplock bags full of blackberries from my garden, let them thaw and mashed them in the bags. I poured the pulpy juice through a brew bag to catch all the pulp and left that in with the rest of the juice. this gave me around 1.25 gallons of must to work with. I pitched redstar premier rouge yeast, and let it go totally dry. after I racked it, I added about 3/4 of a bottle of decent quality brandy, and let it sit for another week. this bumped up the alcohol content high enough to stop any further fermentation After that I made a rich sugar syrup to backsweeten to taste. Some recommendations, Really oxygenate your must when you start. my yeast got stressed and started going sulphery, and it took a while for it to age out. Choose a brandy (or other strong spirit) that you don't mind drinking by itself, that will also compliment the flavor of whatever you are using. let me know if you have any more questions and I'll be happy to help!
Here we call the all-spice berry piment or pyment. Sticking to pollen as nutrient. That was a great tip, gives meads another flavor layer. Thanks again for a great mead making video!!!!
Surprised noone has mentioned it (as far as I've seen) and no clue if I read/saw it somewhere or just thought of it but if you very gently just tilt and tap the side of a spoon of fermaid O (also works with yeast packet) while swirling the must it goes into solution without clumping. Takes few seconds longer to do but saves you an extra dish to clean or frustration of the clumping.
My best friend and I have found you only recently, and we’ve been using your videos for our newfound hobby of mead making! Having said that, and it’s random, but maybe Bejeezus for the mascot name?
If you fortified with Everclear it would be a neutral flavor. As to the foam I've used a straw cleaning brush in a small battery powered drill after filling so that the foam is in the neck. Other times I filled letting some of the foam spill out and then use the brush.
For those of you who don’t know what port is… It’s a drink unique to one valley in Portugal. It’s named after the city of Porto. There’s a European law that states that a drink can only be legally labelled port if it is made here, kinda like a copyright. It starts off as a blend of red wine, a blend as the grapes taste different down the length of the valley where the climate differs. In the wine making process, before the yeast eats all the natural sugars in the grape juice, a cooking “brandy” is added so that the brandys alcohol content kills off the yeast early, so that the grape juice still contains natural sugars. It’s a lot sweeter than red wine and doesn’t have the tannin taste. Port is basically a fortified dessert wine. A ruby port is bottled straight away or a tawny port is aged for decades in oak casks for a delicious oaky flavour. If you visit Porto, I recommend visiting the port makers for a tour and tasting session.
Was one of the suggestions to eliminate foaming to use a tiny bit of pectic enzyme..? I see it recommended as something to clear a brew but I'm not really using it for that as things will clear on their own most of the time. BUT..! It stops heavy foaming during initial fermentation REALLY well. I was amazed. (So to be clear, that's not so much for initial foaming from shaking it; it really helps a big mess when fermentation starts producing a ton of foam.)
I use cuties all the time. The pith doesn't add any negative flavors in my experience. I need to look up if its rich in nitrogen because it tends to disappear leaving only the skin at the end and I'm not sure if the yeast are consuming it or if its dissolving.
Not sure if this is the best place to ask this but I just started a brew this morning, and a brown sludge has formed on the top and up into the blow off tube (I'm glad I saw a video of you guys talking about one recently) and was hoping you may have an idea what it is, I think it may be because I added cinnamon before and am worried it'll kill my yeast. It's also not bubbling much but it is only about 12 hours old so I'm more concerned about the sludge More info if needed: The brew is 1gal (minus about 2 cups to make space) apple juice 2lbs brown sugar 1/8 cup of cinnamon (I now feel like I should have added this after ) 1/4 cup vanilla extract ( imitation real mix) This came out to 16-17% potential And I used active dry bread yeast, I originally ordered a 12% cider yeast but when I got it it said 17.5% which I didn't notice until everything else was ready and that would make it dry (not the goal) and I decided that the 8-10 I could get from a bread yeast may even be better, but when I originally added it I didn't read the instructions (cause I figured they were exclusive to bread) and just poured it in, but it was oddly clumpy and didn't look write then noticed it said to dissolve in water first, so I tried to get some of that stuff out and then did the second one dissolved in water first and it seemed to incorporate fine, then I got home 10-12 hours later and there was brown sludge that had foamed clear into the blow off tube, which makes me think it was fermenting pretty good but now it doesn't seem to be doing much and I'm wondering if the cinnamon killed the yeast or something like that or if the brown sludge is in some other way a bad thing Edit: also this may seem like an odd recipe but the goal was to have a sweet apple pie like drink, and sorry if that was way to much information but I saw you guys saying you need info to help and wanted to make sure I didn't leave any out Update: so I woke up the next day and the yeast is definitely not dead and it's going pretty good now, the foam/sludge has actually gone clear through the blow out tube into the sanitizer cup (I feel like I filled my container too much) I'm starting to think the sludge is just the cinnamon clumping up with the foam, but I'm still a little worried about it
@@CitySteadingBrews it wasn't like the normal foam it was much more like a sludge and stuck together, I think the cinnamon was just sticking to the foam causing that, it's all gone now it ended up going clear through the blow out tube and it seems to have not harmed it all
@City Steading Brews , Hey Brian and Dericka! Will you do a video on starting gravity and it’s relationship with amount of honey as well as abv cap’s relationship with hopeful final gravity?
Uh, if I'm correct, I believe cognac is made from the skin of grapes whereas brandy is made from... I forget.. also good video. Not too many good toutubers have I found that have done a fortified video. And no one has done it on mead except for you. Awesome.
This is a really interesting one! Spices work nicely in pyments. I have used cardamom for the fruity flavours it can impart. If I make another I may have to try fortifying it... Thanks for the inspiration!
I love Port and fortified wines. I ask Brian and Derica if you folks have a plan for allowing a little deliberate oxidation in this recipe going forward (what I call Sherry-Breathing lol). In the past I have found that this really has worked wonders for heavier wines I have fortified, adding a touch more creamy complexity on ageing. Also, for folks who haven't used LalVin K1-V1116 before, it's the yeast I have used more than any other down the last few years and I call it my 'little lazy monster.' (it's as much a thinker as a doer throughout; not vigorous or full-on in any way). It always appears to start slowly and steady away and I have despaired with it's relaxed approach at times. This one seems to enjoy a longer lay-in, even when it's pitched to ideal product, It will fool you into thinking little is going on. Hence it is fundamental, if using this strain, you definitely follow Brian and Derica's advice and utilise your Hydrometer throughout. End said, it has never disappointed to give me great results. Fresh, crisp, mature and superb at lower temperature primary/conditioning.
So I'm considering making something like this in a larger batch and not as strong, I've already watched both videos on this brew, and for memory you got near or over 20% ABV, im looking at 17.5% as alot of tawny or port or muscat etc are all close to that level here in aus. I was condering making a 9 litre (2.38gal) batch of pyment in an 11 litre (2.90gal) white plastic, food safe pail. 1.42kg (3.09lb) raw mixed blossom honey, oh btw I found that I can get 3kg (6.61lb) tub of raw mixed blossom honey at a not so local supermarket for $24 which is pretty good! So.. 1.42kg in a 9 litre batch topped up with concord grape juice should net me around 1.100 OG Let ferment dry and I hate it but this time I'm going to stabilise and backsweeten and fortify. Backsweeten with leatherwood honey from Tasmania and fortify with a ... friends... Homemade... spicy water with brandy flavouring. Its basically grain alcohol... uhh I mean spicy water. This one isn't going to be so natural like how I usualy operate. Only thing to fortify 9 litres id need like 2.3lt of spicy water. I know that my parents neighbour will love it as she loves port! But I'm yet to get her to sample any of my meads, she got turned off the idea by a commercial spiced mead from like 20yr ago. I think this idea will get her onto meads.
Actually I could just pasturise the bottles a few at a time right after back sweetening and fortifying, I do want to backsweeten with leatherwood I don't want that type of honey to ferment at all.
Ok, I've made up my mind, im gonna brew the pyment and I'm going to rack 3.75 litres of pyment into a 5 litre glass carboy and add a litre of brandy near the end of "secondary" add a half of an oak spiral and age for a couple months meanwhile in the rest of the pyment about 5.25 litres, whilst racking im sure there will be some lees so I will end up at around 5 litres in a 5 litre carboy I will also add half an oak spiral and let sit for a couple months labeling both carboys I will then back sweeten with about 200g each of leatherwood honey Bottle and pasteurise one batch at a time and add labels as to not get them mixed up As I will be pasteurising almost immediately I wont need to worry about bottle bombs right? I've never pasteurised a still mead/wine Never, I've always used more sugar or honey than what the yeast will ultimatley ferment if I've wanted a sweet end product but this time is different, I want to taste the leatherwood honey and if I added it in the start I'd not get alot of that character. I'm open for suggestions, lol. Wont bother ya anymore, just needed to wrap my head around it.
Hi guys. Have you ever considered making a mead or wine using passionfruit or feijoas? Both grow in abundance in people's gardens here in NZ so I am planning on concocting something soon. Love the channel, keep up the great work.
When I would brew my 6 gallon glass fermenter I would put a pint of my base and add a packet of yeast and let it eat for awhile before dumping in the batch
This weekend I have been thinking about Yeast colony and the lees. The lees is the fallen particulates and dormant as well as some dead yeast. and the living colony is in suspension. How does removing the lees often in and of itself stress the Yeast to cause off flavors? Maybe because the yeast is canabalistic they loose a nutrient source, add more nutrient during racking. I rack to help with clarity. less stuff around to get back in solution. But if the colony is in suspension then racking shouldn't cause stress. Is it the rough treatment through the auto-siphon? If you had the new designed fermenters with the dump valve at the bottom to remove the Lees would that cause stress?
Up in my village we use aguardente nova - unaged grape spirit, sort of like a grappa, to fortify our jeropiga (I'm not from douro, so no Porto from us) With a vinho do porto you usually age it in oak for a good while - I imagine using an aged brandy can give some of that feeling to it, so it is a good idea. I'm really curious to see how this turns out - boa sorte.
This was one of the first batches I made after discovering your channel. It’s been aging for three months, and there’s still a strong bitter flavour that doesn’t completely overwhelm the other flavours, but does spoil the tasting experience. I probably overdid the hibiscus. Are there ways of correcting a bitter note that won’t seem to go away? Thanks!
On the faomimg issue I use my stock pot now my mead pot I fill half my fermentation vessel with water and pour all my honey into the stock pot then add all the water from my vessel to the pot and mix with a large spoon from the second draw until it's all mixed in then funnel it into the demi john add my extra ingredients then top off with more water then add the bung and airlock and i dont often have a foaming issue unless fermentation gets crazy
@@CitySteadingBrews yes I use Milton (baby bottle sanitizer ) because I am yet to afford starsan I am also yet to aquire a hydrometer for accurate readings and a wire bottle brush to scrub the lees out of a bottle i didn't rinse properly as soon as I emptied it haha
@@CitySteadingBrews I also use spring water as I am close to. Local dam and the water here always stinks like chlorine so I've told my son the bottled water on the top shelf is daddy's special water for my brews now every few weeks he asks if he can have some special water haha it's cute but I say no because it's not cheap
I've seen your first vid about port mead and your final one. Do you have a 2nd vid to continue the 1st one? Sure hope so. Plan to brew this soon if I can see the 2nd vid.
hey, what do you think about McCoy's orange blossom honey?? Just thought I would ask since I'm in Texas. I did order some, so I will find out about it pretty soon! 😉
An entry to the naming contest: Drum roll....... "Beastious Yeastious " My inspiration is twofold. A Monty Python movie. And what has become somewhat of a City Steading byline for the name of a certain strain of yeast from Lalvin.
@@CitySteadingBrews yes of course. Now it makes sense. I have seen so many videos of yours using 3 pound of honey that I automatically assumed that we have the same case here. Afterwards I saw that you used 1,75 pounds of honey. Something didn't match with my math calculations. Thanks again. I will try my first mead with my thyme honey at the end of June when i'll get this year's honey. (I have consumed all last year's honey). If the final product is worth it, I will try to find a way to send you 2 kilos of this aromatic and rich flavored honey. It is the least I can do for all these info I have got from your channel the last 2 weeks.
Kinda new to all this. Ive watched enough of your videos to know you always say that you need to follow a specific recipe. So theorically, would subsisting say blackberry juice and using black berry brandy work? I know it will not taste like yours, but do you think the juice and brandy would be too strong...overpowering blackberry flavor?
So I wanted to do this mead so bad but I changed it a bit. I used white grape and white hibiscus. I want to see if I can get a white mead. I'm not sure how long to leave the sherry oak in for. you guys did 4weeks, but thought 6m would be better. what is your thought and she mentioned one she liked better I think clingon? thank you for your help- Pieracci's Purgatory
Oaking time varies due to many variables. Our best suggestion is to test taste it now and again to determine when to stop the oaking process. Here is the video for Klingon Bloodwine: th-cam.com/video/gNLcJCOkBvM/w-d-xo.html
Just out of curiosity, does anyone have suggestions for the foam issue other than waiting? Brian filling the carboy up little by little was giving me flashbacks lol
beer guys say oils are very good at that (mostly from skin and hair in case of drinking beer). I would try a smooth surface, like a drinking straw, put a drop of oil on it and wipe it down with paper towel. Then dip that into the foam.
I was wondering if altitude can change or alter how your yeast can work if altitude can change how your product actually will ferment ( hopefully I’m not sounding too stupid)
Hey what’s good I just picked myself up a 5 gallon wine making kit and I plan on making meed do y’all have any small advice on how to mix such a large amount or anything kind of advice for a first time brew ?
Useless trying to stop people from calling it Port. They just don't care. I say a fortified Wine or Mead but others say Port every time. In this instance I would not add the yeast and allowed the foam to ooze out the top as the foam would not be carrying anything that important. That whole foam top would equal a teaspoon of liquid at most. Then added the yeast. Thanks for the videos.
So I had an idea, I made this recipe up a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd get a jump on oaking. I measured out the amount of brandy and put it in a clean jar and added the French oak to soak before I add it all to the must in a couple of weeks, Will this bring out more "oakage" or is it kinda a waste of time?
You oaked the brandy rather than your entire recipe. I feel you would have a better result in oaking the full recipe after the brandy was added, but I can see the thought process.
Hi yall i had a question about auto siphons, i racked a mead the other day and it did a weird thing as it got to the end it started, for lack of a better word, slurping? And it introduced a lot of bubbles even tho it wasnt completely empty yet and didnt want to siphon the last couple inches of fluid
Have you considered Micro wizard for your mascots name. Yeast is microscopic and it magically creates alcohol. Also have you ever made anything with beans?
Thwack! One other saying I miss is "what are we going to do with it? We're gonna let it sit" Mascot? I agree with Bajeezus - with some of the newer spellings, or old spellings as they are literally in the dictionary too!
So I've been working my way through your videos, kind of bouncing around from early videos to later videos. I tend to have your videos playing while I make my hour long commute to class. This is the first video I've seen/listened to in which yall are NOT against the use of a nutrient (other than yeast hulls). Maybe I just haven't seen the video where you back pedal your view on fermaid-o, but what changed?
Fermaid O is still organic and basically yeast hulls plus. It isn't necessary, but might keep some unforeseen problems at bay, such as stalls or slow starts.
Any plans to revisit your older brews from years past: Klingon bloodwine, fey wine, dragon’s blood, etc., Based on what you‘be learned from experience since they came out?
No joke, skin oils are the fastest way to remove bubbles or foam. I realize that might not be the best thing when sanitary conditions are vital, but there it is.
@@CitySteadingBrews Yep. That was the focus of my comment. My bad for not wording my comment correctly. You absolutely nailed it on the last port explanation. 👍
Guys I just got the same cognac today and yes it is damn good. I taste a lot of my latest raisin wine recipe so it is making me think of new ideas. I encourage everyone to buy it cost me 26 ish bucks so not bad
Who else hits the thumbs up even before watching because you two are great teachers and entertaining!
Since the very beginning, you've always mentioned about making your yeast happy. So I vote Happy for a mascot name!
Ehem, sorry, that's 2 votes for happy.
Mmmm this sounds like it will be amazing when finished. For my suggestion for the name of the little mascot....Charles, because nothing is funnier than just a regular human name for something that isn't human. And for anyone who may find it useful or just interesting, I had a brew going that I had thought was stuck, while trying to figure out what I wanted to try in order to unstick it...I forgot about it, about 4 months later I remembered about it (a few days ago) so I took a reading just for giggles and it had eaten through about 48 points of gravity to where I'm pretty sure it is now properly done. The lesson I've learned "if I think its stuck, leave it longer. It might surprise me"
This was a fun one. It reminds me of my Ravens blood. Knudsen black cherry, hibiscus and rose heads. I made that one and gave it out for Christmas presents. Everyone loved it so much I have another 3gal batch going right now.
Seriously, that sounds amazing!
I have a lot of them that I make that I personally enjoy more but the Ravens blood seems to be the crowd favorite.
Mind sharing a recipe ?
@@alexdevletter1087 9lbs honey, 6oz hibiscus, 3 rose heads or 2oz of hip then I oak in secondary for at least 2weeks with a med toast. Ec1118 for the yeast and nutrients and enzymes per manufacturer recommendation. That is a 3gal batch.
@@Cliff82 Thank you very much for sharing. Will definitely give it a try!
You both are ROCKSTARS!!!!! I really enjoy the videos!
Thank you!
I think this might be my next thing to do! And the way I deal with foam, I have a little metal straw, that I sanitise, and then I gently stir at the top of the must, mostly within the foam, and it helps to break the foam apart rather nicely. Zero need to add stuff.
I made a really similar Pyment this fall (but did not plan to fortify it)
It was a 1100 pyment that ended up at 1030, too sweet for my palet, I added a strong hibiscus infusion to acidify/dilute it a bit and for this same fruity floral goodness
It ended up really great.
Cheers !
I opened a bottle of this last night that’s been aging for about 16 months… absolutely lovely!! And I have another 3 bottles!! 🤪🤪🤪
My plastic gallon fermenter has a screw cap option (I'm sure most do; I'm sorta new to this!), and if I get foamed up badly, I tighten it up and lay it on its side. More surface area = thinner layer of foam, and I get a good time difference in it dying down.
Mascot name: “Bajesus”, obviously.
Foam buster: vacuum pump for degassing - you create a quick vacuum in the container before it starts sucking up into the tube, then pop the top off and that rush of air back into the container pops about every bubble in there.
Yeast mascot looks like a Calvin to me.
He's a good boy.
I'm glad you brought back TURBOS. For some reason, it just seems like he's a big part of the family.
I made a blackberry port just a few months ago, and it’s probably one of the best things I’ve made.
Feel free not to answer, but I’m curious how you made yours. Mind sharing how you made your blackberry port?
@@zachburton4190 I froze 3 gallon sized ziplock bags full of blackberries from my garden, let them thaw and mashed them in the bags. I poured the pulpy juice through a brew bag to catch all the pulp and left that in with the rest of the juice. this gave me around 1.25 gallons of must to work with.
I pitched redstar premier rouge yeast, and let it go totally dry.
after I racked it, I added about 3/4 of a bottle of decent quality brandy, and let it sit for another week. this bumped up the alcohol content high enough to stop any further fermentation
After that I made a rich sugar syrup to backsweeten to taste.
Some recommendations,
Really oxygenate your must when you start. my yeast got stressed and started going sulphery, and it took a while for it to age out.
Choose a brandy (or other strong spirit) that you don't mind drinking by itself, that will also compliment the flavor of whatever you are using.
let me know if you have any more questions and I'll be happy to help!
Here we call the all-spice berry piment or pyment. Sticking to pollen as nutrient. That was a great tip, gives meads another flavor layer. Thanks again for a great mead making video!!!!
Surprised noone has mentioned it (as far as I've seen) and no clue if I read/saw it somewhere or just thought of it but if you very gently just tilt and tap the side of a spoon of fermaid O (also works with yeast packet) while swirling the must it goes into solution without clumping. Takes few seconds longer to do but saves you an extra dish to clean or frustration of the clumping.
I really want to see how this one turns out!
My best friend and I have found you only recently, and we’ve been using your videos for our newfound hobby of mead making! Having said that, and it’s random, but maybe Bejeezus for the mascot name?
If you fortified with Everclear it would be a neutral flavor. As to the foam I've used a straw cleaning brush in a small battery powered drill after filling so that the foam is in the neck. Other times I filled letting some of the foam spill out and then use the brush.
For those of you who don’t know what port is… It’s a drink unique to one valley in Portugal. It’s named after the city of Porto. There’s a European law that states that a drink can only be legally labelled port if it is made here, kinda like a copyright. It starts off as a blend of red wine, a blend as the grapes taste different down the length of the valley where the climate differs. In the wine making process, before the yeast eats all the natural sugars in the grape juice, a cooking “brandy” is added so that the brandys alcohol content kills off the yeast early, so that the grape juice still contains natural sugars. It’s a lot sweeter than red wine and doesn’t have the tannin taste. Port is basically a fortified dessert wine. A ruby port is bottled straight away or a tawny port is aged for decades in oak casks for a delicious oaky flavour.
If you visit Porto, I recommend visiting the port makers for a tour and tasting session.
If I had to take a guess on the foam, I'd say it's the Star San. It's a non-rinse sanitizer and it can build up foam easily
Nope... the juice does that. There's not enough Star san in there to foam up like that.
This was great guys, I can’t wait to see how it turns out!!
Was one of the suggestions to eliminate foaming to use a tiny bit of pectic enzyme..? I see it recommended as something to clear a brew but I'm not really using it for that as things will clear on their own most of the time. BUT..! It stops heavy foaming during initial fermentation REALLY well. I was amazed. (So to be clear, that's not so much for initial foaming from shaking it; it really helps a big mess when fermentation starts producing a ton of foam.)
I use cuties all the time. The pith doesn't add any negative flavors in my experience. I need to look up if its rich in nitrogen because it tends to disappear leaving only the skin at the end and I'm not sure if the yeast are consuming it or if its dissolving.
Not sure if this is the best place to ask this but I just started a brew this morning, and a brown sludge has formed on the top and up into the blow off tube (I'm glad I saw a video of you guys talking about one recently) and was hoping you may have an idea what it is, I think it may be because I added cinnamon before and am worried it'll kill my yeast. It's also not bubbling much but it is only about 12 hours old so I'm more concerned about the sludge
More info if needed:
The brew is
1gal (minus about 2 cups to make space) apple juice
2lbs brown sugar
1/8 cup of cinnamon (I now feel like I should have added this after )
1/4 cup vanilla extract ( imitation real mix)
This came out to 16-17% potential
And I used active dry bread yeast, I originally ordered a 12% cider yeast but when I got it it said 17.5% which I didn't notice until everything else was ready and that would make it dry (not the goal) and I decided that the 8-10 I could get from a bread yeast may even be better, but when I originally added it I didn't read the instructions (cause I figured they were exclusive to bread) and just poured it in, but it was oddly clumpy and didn't look write then noticed it said to dissolve in water first, so I tried to get some of that stuff out and then did the second one dissolved in water first and it seemed to incorporate fine, then I got home 10-12 hours later and there was brown sludge that had foamed clear into the blow off tube, which makes me think it was fermenting pretty good but now it doesn't seem to be doing much and I'm wondering if the cinnamon killed the yeast or something like that or if the brown sludge is in some other way a bad thing
Edit: also this may seem like an odd recipe but the goal was to have a sweet apple pie like drink, and sorry if that was way to much information but I saw you guys saying you need info to help and wanted to make sure I didn't leave any out
Update: so I woke up the next day and the yeast is definitely not dead and it's going pretty good now, the foam/sludge has actually gone clear through the blow out tube into the sanitizer cup (I feel like I filled my container too much) I'm starting to think the sludge is just the cinnamon clumping up with the foam, but I'm still a little worried about it
It's just foam, it happens. th-cam.com/video/nIHRaBpplLA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=CitySteadingBrews
@@CitySteadingBrews it wasn't like the normal foam it was much more like a sludge and stuck together, I think the cinnamon was just sticking to the foam causing that, it's all gone now it ended up going clear through the blow out tube and it seems to have not harmed it all
Oooooh brilliant idea! Going to fortify a melomel nearly done with a brandy. My dad will love that so his Bday prezzy is sorted!
@City Steading Brews , Hey Brian and Dericka! Will you do a video on starting gravity and it’s relationship with amount of honey as well as abv cap’s relationship with hopeful final gravity?
We did. A few in fact.
Don't ask me why, but naming your yeast mascot, the first word that came to mind was "Yeti".
Uh, if I'm correct, I believe cognac is made from the skin of grapes whereas brandy is made from... I forget.. also good video. Not too many good toutubers have I found that have done a fortified video. And no one has done it on mead except for you. Awesome.
This is a really interesting one! Spices work nicely in pyments. I have used cardamom for the fruity flavours it can impart. If I make another I may have to try fortifying it... Thanks for the inspiration!
This looks amazing!
I love Port and fortified wines. I ask Brian and Derica if you folks have a plan for allowing a little deliberate oxidation in this recipe going forward (what I call Sherry-Breathing lol). In the past I have found that this really has worked wonders for heavier wines I have fortified, adding a touch more creamy complexity on ageing. Also, for folks who haven't used LalVin K1-V1116 before, it's the yeast I have used more than any other down the last few years and I call it my 'little lazy monster.' (it's as much a thinker as a doer throughout; not vigorous or full-on in any way). It always appears to start slowly and steady away and I have despaired with it's relaxed approach at times. This one seems to enjoy a longer lay-in, even when it's pitched to ideal product, It will fool you into thinking little is going on. Hence it is fundamental, if using this strain, you definitely follow Brian and Derica's advice and utilise your Hydrometer throughout. End said, it has never disappointed to give me great results. Fresh, crisp, mature and superb at lower temperature primary/conditioning.
I wish to vote for 'Ziggy' as the name for little mascot lol. :D :D
Ahh.. this is like the fun chemistry lessons!
So I'm considering making something like this in a larger batch and not as strong, I've already watched both videos on this brew, and for memory you got near or over 20% ABV, im looking at 17.5% as alot of tawny or port or muscat etc are all close to that level here in aus.
I was condering making a 9 litre (2.38gal) batch of pyment in an 11 litre (2.90gal) white plastic, food safe pail. 1.42kg (3.09lb) raw mixed blossom honey, oh btw I found that I can get 3kg (6.61lb) tub of raw mixed blossom honey at a not so local supermarket for $24 which is pretty good! So.. 1.42kg in a 9 litre batch topped up with concord grape juice should net me around 1.100 OG
Let ferment dry and I hate it but this time I'm going to stabilise and backsweeten and fortify.
Backsweeten with leatherwood honey from Tasmania and fortify with a ... friends...
Homemade... spicy water with brandy flavouring. Its basically grain alcohol... uhh I mean spicy water. This one isn't going to be so natural like how I usualy operate.
Only thing to fortify 9 litres id need like 2.3lt of spicy water.
I know that my parents neighbour will love it as she loves port! But I'm yet to get her to sample any of my meads, she got turned off the idea by a commercial spiced mead from like 20yr ago. I think this idea will get her onto meads.
Actually I could just pasturise the bottles a few at a time right after back sweetening and fortifying, I do want to backsweeten with leatherwood I don't want that type of honey to ferment at all.
Ok, I've made up my mind, im gonna brew the pyment and I'm going to rack 3.75 litres of pyment into a 5 litre glass carboy and add a litre of brandy near the end of "secondary" add a half of an oak spiral and age for a couple months meanwhile in the rest of the pyment about 5.25 litres, whilst racking im sure there will be some lees so I will end up at around 5 litres in a 5 litre carboy I will also add half an oak spiral and let sit for a couple months labeling both carboys
I will then back sweeten with about 200g each of leatherwood honey
Bottle and pasteurise one batch at a time and add labels as to not get them mixed up
As I will be pasteurising almost immediately I wont need to worry about bottle bombs right?
I've never pasteurised a still mead/wine
Never, I've always used more sugar or honey than what the yeast will ultimatley ferment if I've wanted a sweet end product but this time is different, I want to taste the leatherwood honey and if I added it in the start I'd not get alot of that character. I'm open for suggestions, lol.
Wont bother ya anymore, just needed to wrap my head around it.
Hi guys. Have you ever considered making a mead or wine using passionfruit or feijoas? Both grow in abundance in people's gardens here in NZ so I am planning on concocting something soon. Love the channel, keep up the great work.
We did passionfruit a year ago. th-cam.com/video/FtnINFdMbsw/w-d-xo.htmlsi=kDIhuDYo87jUQey2
Yoric the Yeast Plushie. You know him so well.
The lav117 is powerful. I used one packet on 5 gallon jug, blueberries raisins ,and a little teaspoon of food. It's going great.
I wonder if one drop of cooking oil would be enough to reduce the foaming by affecting the liquid's surface tension.
I wouldn't put any oil into a brew like that.
So I finally ordered my stuff to start brewing and I've always wondered how you guys come up with all these flavor combinations and amounts
We made a video on how we come up with recipes. th-cam.com/video/nZdjG2rslVw/w-d-xo.html
I want BOTH of yours tee shirt wardrobes. You have the best tee-shirts.
Most are linked in the descriptions of our videos :)
Ordered this yeast and new fermenters and making this next!!!!!
When I would brew my 6 gallon glass fermenter I would put a pint of my base and add a packet of yeast and let it eat for awhile before dumping in the batch
Great video guys I made a port style wine with your raisin wine recipe and it was awesome!
you could use a flashlight on these darker musts to see into the jug a bit better
How about Yeastie Boy for the mascot?
Looking forward to the next video. Who was the other brewer you mentioned that is known for fortifying?
Dansk Mjod, a commercial meadery.
In my country (Denmark) quite a few micro brewers fortify their mead.
Ohhh, the Viking Blood guys with the cool bottles.
This weekend I have been thinking about Yeast colony and the lees. The lees is the fallen particulates and dormant as well as some dead yeast. and the living colony is in suspension. How does removing the lees often in and of itself stress the Yeast to cause off flavors? Maybe because the yeast is canabalistic they loose a nutrient source, add more nutrient during racking. I rack to help with clarity. less stuff around to get back in solution. But if the colony is in suspension then racking shouldn't cause stress. Is it the rough treatment through the auto-siphon? If you had the new designed fermenters with the dump valve at the bottom to remove the Lees would that cause stress?
The colony is also in the lees.
Up in my village we use aguardente nova - unaged grape spirit, sort of like a grappa, to fortify our jeropiga (I'm not from douro, so no Porto from us) With a vinho do porto you usually age it in oak for a good while - I imagine using an aged brandy can give some of that feeling to it, so it is a good idea. I'm really curious to see how this turns out - boa sorte.
This was one of the first batches I made after discovering your channel. It’s been aging for three months, and there’s still a strong bitter flavour that doesn’t completely overwhelm the other flavours, but does spoil the tasting experience. I probably overdid the hibiscus. Are there ways of correcting a bitter note that won’t seem to go away? Thanks!
Diluting with something more neutral might help.
Little Lalvin!
Love you guys. Really appreciate your vids.
Many Thanks for the great content 👍💖
I think we should name the yeast mascot Kevin lol or Clint Yeastwood
How about Sacchy or Cervy?
On the faomimg issue I use my stock pot now my mead pot I fill half my fermentation vessel with water and pour all my honey into the stock pot then add all the water from my vessel to the pot and mix with a large spoon from the second draw until it's all mixed in then funnel it into the demi john add my extra ingredients then top off with more water then add the bung and airlock and i dont often have a foaming issue unless fermentation gets crazy
Hopefully it's all sanitized.
@@CitySteadingBrews yes I use Milton (baby bottle sanitizer ) because I am yet to afford starsan I am also yet to aquire a hydrometer for accurate readings and a wire bottle brush to scrub the lees out of a bottle i didn't rinse properly as soon as I emptied it haha
@@CitySteadingBrews I also use spring water as I am close to. Local dam and the water here always stinks like chlorine so I've told my son the bottled water on the top shelf is daddy's special water for my brews now every few weeks he asks if he can have some special water haha it's cute but I say no because it's not cheap
@@CitySteadingBrews I actually have to sanitize more racking bottles Tonight thanks for the reminder time to fill the laundry sink of sanitization
I've seen your first vid about port mead and your final one. Do you have a 2nd vid to continue the 1st one? Sure hope so. Plan to brew this soon if I can see the 2nd vid.
There were only two… one we made it, the second we finished it and tasted it.
Hmmm.. I wonder if you could make 2 gallons and distill one of them to use for fortifying? That way it doesn't add too many different flavors.
In a place where distilling is legal you could totally do that.
hey, what do you think about McCoy's orange blossom honey?? Just thought I would ask since I'm in Texas. I did order some, so I will find out about it pretty soon! 😉
We used it several times. Seems like a decent honey.
I want to try a fortified style soon, what do you think of a white pyment mead fortified with a plum brandy like slivovitz?
Hmmmm is there going to be a tamarindo style mead?
Maybe? Someday?
An entry to the naming contest: Drum roll....... "Beastious Yeastious " My inspiration is twofold. A Monty Python movie. And what has become somewhat of a City Steading byline for the name of a certain strain of yeast from Lalvin.
Ι was expecting with all these "sweet liquid" (grape juice, honey) and in such quantities to have higher O. G. What is your opinion?
I controlled the OG on purpose.
@@CitySteadingBrews how exactly you did that? Thank you
@@oli-bee5413 by measuring the volumes... there's .035 gravity per pound in honey and the juice is about .055 gravity
@@CitySteadingBrews yes of course. Now it makes sense. I have seen so many videos of yours using 3 pound of honey that I automatically assumed that we have the same case here. Afterwards I saw that you used 1,75 pounds of honey. Something didn't match with my math calculations. Thanks again.
I will try my first mead with my thyme honey at the end of June when i'll get this year's honey. (I have consumed all last year's honey). If the final product is worth it, I will try to find a way to send you 2 kilos of this aromatic and rich flavored honey. It is the least I can do for all these info I have got from your channel the last 2 weeks.
I’m starting this tomorrow and hope it turns out as well as yours appears to have!!
Ps. How about ‘Bubbles’ for the yeastie??
Paused at 9:20 just to say live long and prosper 🖖
I just use the 150 mL syringe to remove the foam. It’s not elegant, but I can usually reduce the foam by 1/2 or so that way.
Plushy Name -
FunGuy!
John Dough
Witch of Yeastwick
The Yeast Priest
Yeast of Eden
Kinda new to all this. Ive watched enough of your videos to know you always say that you need to follow a specific recipe. So theorically, would subsisting say blackberry juice and using black berry brandy work? I know it will not taste like yours, but do you think the juice and brandy would be too strong...overpowering blackberry flavor?
the plushie should be named Lalvin, of course!
+1 to Lalvin
Lanvin, the lil' yeasty beasty!
So I wanted to do this mead so bad but I changed it a bit. I used white grape and white hibiscus. I want to see if I can get a white mead. I'm not sure how long to leave the sherry oak in for. you guys did 4weeks, but thought 6m would be better. what is your thought and she mentioned one she liked better I think clingon? thank you for your help- Pieracci's Purgatory
Oaking time varies due to many variables. Our best suggestion is to test taste it now and again to determine when to stop the oaking process. Here is the video for Klingon Bloodwine: th-cam.com/video/gNLcJCOkBvM/w-d-xo.html
I like the name Yanni for your yeast plushy. Yanni the Yeast.
My husband and I are enjoying your videos.
First! Sorry, couldn't resist!
Good morning Brian and Derica!
Just out of curiosity, does anyone have suggestions for the foam issue other than waiting? Brian filling the carboy up little by little was giving me flashbacks lol
beer guys say oils are very good at that (mostly from skin and hair in case of drinking beer). I would try a smooth surface, like a drinking straw, put a drop of oil on it and wipe it down with paper towel. Then dip that into the foam.
Colin? As a reference to colonisation (Because Colon just wouldnt be appropriate)?
I was wondering if altitude can change or alter how your yeast can work if altitude can change how your product actually will ferment ( hopefully I’m not sounding too stupid)
It can but we haven't investigated this thoroughly. From what I have gathered, it can alter the timing.
For wine lovers, Portugal is great on that matter 👍Port or "VInho do Porto " located North of Portugal and can be found in a lot of places :D
Hey what’s good I just picked myself up a 5 gallon wine making kit and I plan on making meed do y’all have any small advice on how to mix such a large amount or anything kind of advice for a first time brew ?
We keep to smaller sizes for many reasons, but a drill attachment could help.
So a trip to Home Depot is an order thank you for the advice
The Yeasty Beast !
Yeasty Beasty/ Beasty Yeasty or Yeasty Boy (my son suggested that. )
I second yeasty boy 😂
I love the yeasty boy lol
Useless trying to stop people from calling it Port. They just don't care. I say a fortified Wine or Mead but others say Port every time. In this instance I would not add the yeast and allowed the foam to ooze out the top as the foam would not be carrying anything that important. That whole foam top would equal a teaspoon of liquid at most. Then added the yeast. Thanks for the videos.
Not trying to stop anything, but if we don’t try to spread information… well… what are we here for, lol. What people do with education is up to them.
So I had an idea, I made this recipe up a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd get a jump on oaking. I measured out the amount of brandy and put it in a clean jar and added the French oak to soak before I add it all to the must in a couple of weeks, Will this bring out more "oakage" or is it kinda a waste of time?
You oaked the brandy rather than your entire recipe. I feel you would have a better result in oaking the full recipe after the brandy was added, but I can see the thought process.
@@CitySteadingBrews I'm still going to put the oak in the must when I fortify it.
Hi yall i had a question about auto siphons, i racked a mead the other day and it did a weird thing as it got to the end it started, for lack of a better word, slurping? And it introduced a lot of bubbles even tho it wasnt completely empty yet and didnt want to siphon the last couple inches of fluid
Sounds like it was sucking in air somehow, or you have a bad seal maybe?
@@CitySteadingBrews huh thanks! Ill have to take a closer look at it
I can’t find any grape juice in my area that’s not from concentrate. Is it OK to use grape juice from concentrate? Is Welches Concorde grape juice OK?
Yes, you can use that.
My cousin says to name it "Funky Brewster", like Punky Brewster
Have you considered Micro wizard for your mascots name. Yeast is microscopic and it magically creates alcohol.
Also have you ever made anything with beans?
We have had so many awesome name suggestions that we honestly don't know what to pick! We have not made anything with beans.
If you're still looking for a name for the plush yeast, my suggestion is Illiterate Larry. Yeast can't read. Lol
Lol!
Yeast name: Bubbles.
Is it normal for particulates to float and cause it to look separated in 2
It happens for sure.
Thwack! One other saying I miss is "what are we going to do with it? We're gonna let it sit"
Mascot? I agree with Bajeezus - with some of the newer spellings, or old spellings as they are literally in the dictionary too!
Gotta change it up once in a while!
So my family has this allergy to oranges do you think lemons would work well in the flavor profile in this instead of the orange?
Lemons would add a bit of acidity. In your case I think that would be nice.
It did indeed turn out nice
You gotta try detuning and slo-mo effects on Derica’s TRBOS exclamation in post. That would be hysterical! 😆😂
So I've been working my way through your videos, kind of bouncing around from early videos to later videos. I tend to have your videos playing while I make my hour long commute to class. This is the first video I've seen/listened to in which yall are NOT against the use of a nutrient (other than yeast hulls). Maybe I just haven't seen the video where you back pedal your view on fermaid-o, but what changed?
Fermaid O is still organic and basically yeast hulls plus. It isn't necessary, but might keep some unforeseen problems at bay, such as stalls or slow starts.
Ok cool, thank you for the information. I guess I gad misunderstood yall in the past. Thank you for the clarification
Any plans to revisit your older brews from years past: Klingon bloodwine, fey wine, dragon’s blood, etc., Based on what you‘be learned from experience since they came out?
At some point, sure. There are so many new brews to make first though!
I hope you named the mascot Sara vay cee. I'm inspired to make a persimmon port now
Musty is a good name.
No joke, skin oils are the fastest way to remove bubbles or foam. I realize that might not be the best thing when sanitary conditions are vital, but there it is.
@@julietardos5044 Nose Oil Brew, that's what I call it now.
Great video may have to try this one at a later date. How about Flocker for the name
Thanks as always.
@15:21 LOL thats never old
How many takes for that opening? 😁
The opening was one. The explanation of port was like 6.
@@CitySteadingBrews Yep. That was the focus of my comment. My bad for not wording my comment correctly. You absolutely nailed it on the last port explanation. 👍